Already suspected of killing two people in two states, Lois Riess was on the run and cultivating "a new best friend" before police caught up with her.
Riess, 56, had dinner with a woman she met while on the lam in South Padre Island, Texas, and spent the night in the guest room in the residence of her newfound friend just days before she was arrested.
The detail was among many disclosed in more than 2,600 pages of documents released this week by the State Attorney's Office in Florida, which has charged the Blooming Prairie, Minn., woman with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Pamela Hutchinson.
Events leading up to Hutchinson's death began much the same way. Riess fled to Florida after allegedly shooting her husband, David, in March.
Riess had struck up a conversation with the 59-year-old Hutchinson at a Fort Myers eatery where the two women had dinner on April 4. That night, the two women were seen together at Hutchinson's rented condo. Riess was spotted the next day driving away in Hutchinson's white Acura. Four days later on April 9, Hutchinson was found dead in the condo's bathroom. She'd been shot twice.
By then, Riess had fled Fort Myers and stopped at an Ocala, Fla., hotel where she used Hutchinson's credit cards to pay for room service and a movie. She also withdrew $5,000 cash from Hutchinson's bank accounts, records show.
Riess allegedly drove Hutchinson's car to Texas, but stopped at a Louisiana casino on the way and even won a $1,500 jackpot. From there it was on to South Padre Island.
While she was the subject of a nationwide hunt, Riess checked into a Motel 6.